Are we all screwed because we’re all liars?

Author James Stewart believes lying is an inherent part of human nature.

Mr. Stewart (who also wrote the bestseller Den of Thieves about the 1980s Wall Street insider trading scandal) wrote Tangled Webs: How False Statements are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff. Here’s Newsweek magazine’s take on it:

What concerns Stewart the most isn’t the everyday street criminals who blinker cops but white-collar royalty, those at the pinnacle of media, politics, sports, and business, who are supposed to be role models, not rogues. Although there are no data on this clean-handed corruption, Stewart believes it’s on the rise, threatening to swamp the legal system, stymie the courts, and sow cynicism nationwide. Ultimately, he argues, "it undermines civilization itself." That’s a grand statement. Limited to the kind of blockbuster cases that Stewart examines, however, it’s hard to deny its essential truth. Lying under oath is poisonous to a society rooted in fair play and rule of law. And when the most public of liars aren’t pursued and punished, more lying ensues, reducing the chance of any one person getting caught and encouraging still others to deceive.

America’s Top Liars – James Stewart explains how Barry Bonds, Martha Stewart, and others built houses of deceitand how America lost the truth, Newsweek>>